SAN JOSE, Calif. – Gilbert Melendez got his revenge and topped Josh Thomson to unify the lightweight titles, but the story coming out of “Strikeforce: Evolution” was Scott Smith‘s stunning, come-from-behind knockout victory over the previously undefeated Cung Le.

The two bouts co-headlined Strikeforce’s season-ending event, which took place at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., and aired on Showtime.

It was a remarkable finish for the promotion, which saw a potential Fight of the Year candidate overshadowed by one of the biggest comebacks in recent history.

Le, who returned from a near two-year-layoff due to his budding Hollywood acting career, showed little ring rust as he dominated the first two rounds of the middleweight main event. Le used a series of spinning back kicks to continually drop Smith, who didn’t land a single punch until midway through the second round. In fact, referee “Big” John McCarthy nearly halted the bout in the first round when Le dropped Smith and followed him to the mat with a brutal ground-and-pound assault.
The performance was enough to earn Le a 10-8 first round on the MMAjunkie.com scorecard.

The resilient Smith, though, survived that first frame and the following round, and by the third, he threw caution to the wind. Knowing he needed a finish – much like he did in a legendary come-from-behind November 2006 UFC win over Pete Sell – Smith pushed the pace just as Le seemed to slow a bit. Midway through the round, Smith finally connected on a big blow and dropped Le with a short left hook. Le tried to recover, but Smith continued the assault, dropped his opponent again, and then ground and pounded his way to the stoppage at 3:25 of the final frame.

“Everybody looks for my right, but my left hook is my punch,” said Smith, who moves to 17-6 with his third win in four fights. “That was so much fun. That’s how I like to fight. I’ve got a hard head. He beat on me for a good two-and-a-half rounds, but I’m never out of a fight. That’s why I’m fun to watch.”

Le (6-1), who entered the fight 6-0 with six knockout wins, said the loss was simply a matter of getting caught.

“He caught me with a punch,” Le said. “He was the better man of the night. I did my best, and he caught me. … He fought his heart out, and I fought my heart out.”

Le, who recently vacated his middleweight belt before a movie cancellation allowed him to book tonight’s fight, said fans shouldn’t read too much into the layoff.

“I was focused,” he said. “I just got caught with a punch.”

In the night’s co-headliner – and in a long-awaited rematch continually delayed by injuries – interim champ Melendez topped title-holder Thomson, avenged his lopsided June 2008 unanimous-decision loss to the former training partner, and unified the belts in a wild and entertaining fight.

While Thomson pulled off the upset and used cage control and patience in his initial meeting, he was much more aggressive in the rematch. Thomson used his jab and front kick to keep distance in that first meeting, but in the second meeting, he was more willing to stand toe-to-toe and trade Melendez. However, it was just such exchanges that shifted the fight in the favor of Melendez, who threw nearly 500 strikes during the five-round fight.

Aside from the first round, Thomson simply couldn’t keep up with Melendez in the remaining rounds. Melendez used a well-balanced attack of punches and kicks from all angle and often lured Thomson into the fight he wanted to take the unanimous decision via scores of 49-47, 49-46, 49-46.

“I just wanted to perform better than I did last time,” said Melendez (17-2), who’s now avenged the only two losses of his career, which came within a six-month period to Thomson and Mitsuhiro Ishida. “Josh is hands down the toughest guy I’ve ever fought, the toughest matchup for me, and maybe the toughest match I’ll ever have.”

With no shame in defeat, Thomson was all smiles after the fight and was one of the loudest to cheer for Melendez.

“The reason Melendez beat me tonight was because he was the better fighter and bigger man,” said Thomson, who snapped an eight-fight win streak to fall to 16-3. “I want to make sure that was clear. I don’t want people making excuses (for me).”

With both fighters having big followings in the Bay area, and with the series now split, Melendez vs. Thomson III seems like an obvious booking for the 2010 fight schedule. Despite 10 competitive between the two fighters, few would object to five more.

Melendez and Smith, though, weren’t the only competitors to impress on the night’s main card.

Fighting for just the second time in 16 months and picking up his first win since September 2008, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza made a successful Strikeforce debut and easily dispatched veteran Matt Lindland.

With more speed, improved stand-up and his always-dominant ground game, Souza dominated on the mat and forced a tap-out due to an arm-triangle choke late in the first round.

Souza got the better of the stand-up exchanges and continually popped Lindland with shots. Lindland got the first takedown, but Souza immediately went to work looking for submission attempts. Lindland initially defended an armbar and nearly secured one of his own. However, after rising up and landing a big right hand, Souza locked in a fight-ending arm-triangle choke.

Working from side control, Souza had a dominant position, and Lindland could do nothing to escape. He was forced to tap out at 4:18 of the first round.

Souza, the latest DREAM fighter to sign with Strikeforce as part of the organizations’ new alliance, made it clear he wants to return to the promotion.

“Strikeforce is my new home now,” he said.

Souza moves to 11-2 with the win, and 10 of the victories have now come via submission. Lindland drops to 21-7, and with a January knockout loss to Vitor Belfort, has the first back-to-back losses of his 12-year career.

In the night’s first televised fight, Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal proved why he’s one of the sport’s top prospects and easily defeated a much larger and much more experienced opponent for arguably the biggest win of his career.

Mike Whitehead, a fellow collegiate wrestling standout who entered the bout with 15 wins in a 16-fight stretch, weighed in 43 pounds heavier than his opponent, but Lawal stuffed his first two takedown attempts and then dropped his opponent when the second part of his one-two combo landed flush.

Whitehead fell to the mat, and Lawal quickly followed with a barrage of punches to force the TKO stoppage at the 3:08 mark of the first round.

“He said I had no experience and this and that and was bumping his gums saying everyone I fought was 30 pounds heavier and that he was going to make a fight,” Lawal said. “He made it all right.”

Lawal, who recently competed at light heavyweight before tonight’s heavyweight contest, didn’t commit to just one weight class when asked about his future plans after the fight.

“I’m a money-weight,” Lawal said. “I fight where the money is.”

Lawal is now 6-0 with five knockouts. Whitehead falls to 24-7.

BRITT DOMINATES ON SKIMPY PRELIM CARD

Due to a string of fight-week injuries and a late fight cancellation, the “Strikeforce: Evolution” preliminary card featured just three bouts.

Antwain Britt proved the biggest winner during the un-aired action and battered fellow light heavyweight Scott Lighty with a dominant first round. Britt scored multiple knockdowns and unloaded damaging ground and pound to force a series of facial cuts.

Britt closed out the first round in dominant fashion, and after the referee and ringside physician conferred, the bout was swiftly halted. Britt’s TKO victory came exactly at the end of the round at the 5:00 mark.

Britt, perhaps known for a short stint on “The Ultimate Fighter 8″ before an opening-round injury forced him off the show, is now 10-3 with four wins in his past five fights. The previously undefeated Lighty falls to 5-1 with his first career loss.

In lightweight action, Justin Wilcox (8-3) picked up his third consecutive victory and showed improved stand-up skills with a unanimous-decision victory over PRIDE and DREAM veteran Daisuke Nakamura (20-12). Wilcox took the decision via scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28.

In an event-opening bout, Alex Crispim easily controlled fellow featherweight and local favorite A.J. Fonseca en route to a unanimous decision win (30-27 on all three judges’ cards). Crispim moves to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in Strikeforce. Fonseca, meanwhile, snaps a four-fight win streak to fall to 4-2.

As MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) reported prior to the event, a planned lightweight bout between Bobby Stack and late replacement David Douglas was a late scratch from the card. A Strikeforce official said Douglas, who struggled to make weight for the event, suffered a “post-weigh-in medical problem” and wasn’t cleared for the bout.

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